When Jesus had called his twelve disciples to follow him, he gave them strict instructions of great importance, these included:
- To take nothing with them except for a stick
- Not to take food with them
- Not to take a pack or bag
- Not allowed to take any money with them
- Allowed to wear sandals, but not a second coat
- If made welcome by any family, they had to stay they until they left the district
- If any place didn’t welcome or listen to them, shake the dust off their feet when they left, as a testimony against them (Mk 6:6-13)
This was to help them see that discipleship wasn’t of any privileges or position, but of humble service to others.
They were also given tasks to do, which were:
- To be with him
- To preach the good news
- To have authority over bad spirits and demons
These were also of great importance because it shows that the disciples had to imitate the life of Christ and do the will of God and put themselves last.
Having talked about what being a ‘disciple’ involves and what is expected of a disciple, I will now go on to talk about the costs ad rewards of being a disciple. The cost of being a disciple, according to Mark’s Gospel, was huge; it was to give up everything: your lifestyle, your home, your friends and family to follow Jesus and become a disciple. In Mark’s gospel (Mk8:34-38) Jesus gives a very clear indication of what the cost of being a disciple was and what it meant.
“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me”. (Mk8:34). What I think Jesus meant was by denying yourself that the disciples had to put themselves last in everything they did, to forget about things, to become selfless and to have no care what so ever in their lives, and to have no desire for the rights and privileges except the belonging to God. Also, that the disciples were to follow Jesus even to the point of death. So when the disciples were to follow Jesus, one of the expectations of following him and being a disciple might mean great suffering and resurrection.
However, the cost of being a disciple didn’t compare with the reward of being a disciple. Even though, the cost of being a disciple could mean great suffering, rejection and death, the reward of being a disciple was much greater. In Mark (10:29-31) “No one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mothers or fathers or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age and in this age to come, eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and last first”. In saying this I believe Jesus meant if the disciples were to leave everything behind and follow Jesus that all sacrifices and suffering that they had suffered in present life would be rewarded in eternal life. But those who had failed to ‘deny self, take up the cross and follow him’, would gain or be rewarded nothing in eternal life. This showed what a true disciple would have been rewarded in eternal life.
I have considered the call, response, cost and reward of discipleship; I will now examine and identify some of the confusions that the disciples had about who Jesus was, what he was capable of and their new way of life.
In Mark’s Gospel in Chapter 14 :( 27-31, 66-72) Peter said to Jesus, when he predicts Peter will disown him, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you”. Then in 14:66-72 when a servant girl says to him that he knew Jesus he says, “I don’t know this man you are talking about”. And realises what he was done. This suggests that Peter was very confused about what was going to happen to Jesus and how it was going to happen. If Peter had known he would have been a bit stronger. But afterwards Peter tried his best and gave his all, but was later martyred in Rome. So basically the situation in which he was put in made him stronger than he was when he denied Jesus, because he wasn’t at all prepared for that situation.
Another incident by which the disciples were still learning to be disciples was in 4:35-41. In the Calming of the Storm when the disciples were with Jesus they asked him if don’t you care if we drown, and Jesus then got up ad calmed the storm. He then asked them, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” The disciples became terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!” This shows that the disciples were still growing in their understanding of who Jesus was and what he was capable of doing. Here, there is also a lack of faith in him, because it hadn’t yet been clear to them that Jesus who was God’s Son was able to perform such miracles, which is why when he calmed the storm, it was a big surprise to them.
On another occasion when the disciples still had doubt about what being a disciple meant and what discipleship really means is in 9:33-35. Jesus asks them what they were arguing about and tells them, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant o f all”. By this I think that Jesus meant that instead of being egocentric the disciples should be other-centred. In other words he was saying that the disciples should ‘forget self’ forget about you and think of others instead of yourself. This would be the right way to look at being a disciple.
The disciples had some difficulty in learning how to become full disciples. They didn’t understand what being a disciple entailed, which is what James and John proved.
In request of James and John (Mark 10:35-45) James and John ask Jesus, “Let one of us sit at the right and the other at your left in your glory”. Jesus said to them, “Instead whoever wants to become great among you must be slave of all”. This suggested that James and John wanted places of honour, seats of distinction, but what they misunderstood once again is that being a disciple means being least of all, the servant of all. Just because they were disciples, it didn’t mean that they should have been treated any differently, it didn’t mean that they were to be further up the hierarchy, it meant than they were to take the ordinary seats. It also showed that they were confused and selfish (rather that selfless) about what being a disciple meant.
The four situations that I have covered all have one thing in common, they show how confused the disciples meant about what being a disciple meant. What is entailed, what Jesus was capable of and who he was. The disciples didn’t understand that the disciple was to imitate the example of the master. They also didn’t understand what discipleship involved which is commitment, which demands sacrifice, which is what being part of a disciple means.
Explain how the teaching about discipleship might affect the life of a Christian today?
Being a ‘follower’ means being able to give up your life, family, friends, possessions, to be able to serve the least, cast out demons, anoint the sick and even to put up with opposition to the point of death.
In the second part of this essay, I will be looking at and discussing discipleship today, how it is realistic for Christians today to do the above things, and how it can affect the lives of Christians today. Nowadays, for Christians to give up their lives, family and friends, etc would be very difficult for them. I can say this because to give up everything is not as easy as it may seem for some people, especially if they are used to their family lives or even everyday lifestyles. It wouldn’t seem realistic for Christians today to just give up their lives just like that, and if they did give up everything, it would take quite a lot of time to adjust to the fact that they had left everything behind to be a ‘follower’. Although it may seem possible for some people to do so, because they would like to either become priests or nuns. Alternatively, instead of lay people (people who aren’t ordained) having to give up their lives, family, friends, etc, maybe it would be possible for a new model of discipleship to be introduced, so it would make it easier for Christians of today to follow Jesus in different circumstances of today. Maybe the things which Christians today could do is to serve others including the poor, the ill, the people who really need help, go to church regularly, give an amount to charity, devote time to helping others, doing community work and helping the ill and the elderly.
Some people say that this would be a ‘watering down’ of discipleship, maybe a more realistic way of following Jesus, but in different circumstances. If some Christians of today were to do this it wouldn’t mean them having to give up their lives like the disciples did.
Although, this could be possible, people do decide to follow the way of Jesus and his disciples in a more direct way, becoming priests or nuns. They maybe decide to do this to help others, put them last and do more to serve and help the community and try to make good changes in people’s lives for the better. We can say that maybe their jobs compared to that of what Jesus expected of his disciples, the older model of discipleship.
Having said that a good example of some one who did put discipleship into action was Mother Teresa. She was from Yugoslavia and trained as a Geography teacher, she then went to Calcutta, to teach. When teaching she would look at the people suffering and how they needed help. So she eventually asked to leave the convent where she was teaching, because she felt guilty because she wanted to do more for those people. As a nun she left everything behind when she took a vow of poverty. She wasn’t egocentric she was other-centred, and she dedicated her whole life to being selfless and helping those other than herself.
Mother Teresa suffered a lot and she did not count the cost unlike James and John. She was not thinking about the reward she would get is she dedicated her life to others; she did it to help others because she felt that it was the right thing to do. The Marxist Government in Calcutta opposed her work and said that it encouraged more poor people to flock to Calcutta. Soon after that an ex-editor of ‘Private Eye’ Malcolm Muggeridge made a film with Mother Teresa in it. This was when she started getting famous and also being criticised for not doing prevention work. This meant that instead of preventing accidents that happened she would help those that needed help after the accidents occurred.
However, I think that probably there was only so much that one person could do to help others. I believe that Mother Teresa helped all the people, the best she could. And if that meant that she couldn’t prevent people from getting hurt, it didn’t make her a bad person. In my opinion, I think for her, the reward in which she got from helping people meant that she had the satisfaction of helping others. Although, in her defence she did say she helped those who needed helping.
All in all, doing what she did for other people, she didn’t count the cost; she did not say what was in it for her unlike James and John. She did it for the right reason which was because it was part of her Christian service not for the wrong reasons, and this is what Jesus expected of his disciples.
‘Children can’t be disciples so they can’t be Christians either’. Do you agree?
In this part of the essay, I will give my opinions on what I think about this statement. Also whether I agree or disagree with the above statement.
I think that this statement is very un-Christian like, I also believe it is wrong, unrealistic and uncharitable. I say this because Jesus expected many things from his disciples; he expected them to leave their families, money, and jobs. For this t be expected of children is absolutely ridiculous. A disciple is a follower (one who learns), so in a sense we can say that children are stilling growing in their faith. However the cost of being a disciple for children is forgiving others and not stealing. Therefore, in an even bigger sense we can say that children are expected to give up their family, friends, money and expected to die, because it is unrealistic to do so.
Also when a child is baptised it becomes a member of the Church, so it is wrong then to say that children cannot be Christians. In some way it seems quit cruel to say this. Children are either brought up to be Catholics, Methodists, Anglicans or another denomination; therefore they are still growing up their faith or even being into their faith. So how then can we say that children can’t be disciples so they can’t be Christians either?
When being baptised as a child in a Catholic Church or others, it is the adult’s choice of whether they would like their child to be baptised. However, in a Baptist Church they don’t allow infant baptisms, although when a child becomes a teenager between the ages of 15 and 16 they have a choice as to whether they want to be baptised or not. I can say that the Baptist Church doesn’t agree with baptism at a very young age. Therefore, we can say that Baptists might just agree with this statement.